In a paper dealing with the study of 1, 5 diketones, Knoevenagel'described the treatment of benzal-p-methoxy-acetophenone with (a) desoxybenzoin,(b) malonic ester and (c) benzyl cyanide, in the presence of two equivalents of sodium in alcoholic solution, whereby a solid addition product was obtained with the first substance, and oils with the others. The oils were hydrolyzed directly to solid acids which were analyzed. In view of the more recent work on ...
